The mystery of Melissa Caddick

Does a statement by her husband provide additional clues?

Paul Curby and Scott McLintock

The mystery behind Melissa Caddick’s disappearance has been a fascinating story. The execution of a search warrant by ASIC and the AFP on 11 November 2020 at the residence of Ms Melissa Caddick ("Ms Caddick"), then the next day she goes missing reportedly without a trace.

We have updated the title of the blog to reflect the recent developments with the discovery of  a shoe at Bournda Beach on 21 February 2021 containing a decomposed foot identified to be that of Ms Caddick.

Wallet, mobile phone, credit cards and bank accounts were not been utilised by her.  CCTV from her house was seized during the search warrant by ASIC and the AFP, in effect disabling it.  Police have apparently checked CCTV from nearby residences and did not see any evidence of her leaving her house (or her street).  Importantly, there is no evidence to suggest that she had been, or was, anywhere.  It appears that Ms Caddick vanished into thin air!

Police and the family of Ms Caddick conducted a press conference on 20 November 2020.  The information shared during a media interview by family members may have provided some potential leads to consider.  

The first question for us is, who crafted the statement that was read out aloud by Mr Koletti?  If it was written by Mr Koletti, we would anticipate that he would have referred to Melissa’s personal qualities in the order of importance to him (perhaps Melissa as his wife, then her as a mother, a daughter and lastly a sister).  However, his opening statement is in the following order:

• Melissa is a dedicated and incredible mother
• a beautiful daughter
• sister and
• loved wife.

The order of introduction in the verbal statement is something that, if we had read the printed document only, we would have attributed the likely authorship to a parent of the missing individual, not the spouse.

As we have no detail regarding who authored the statement read by Mr Koletti, we will assume that he may have authored it, perhaps with the assistance of other family members.

At the time of the live media event taking place, no charges had been laid, no arrest warrant issued.  Effectively, Ms Caddick was thought to be missing.  We do not know whether police have revisited or searched the family home again since 11 November 2020. 

As a backdrop to this, we understand that police were there all day executing the search warrant and didn’t leave until after 6pm.  It would be fair to say that having your home searched by ASIC and AFP would have been a stressful event for the family, and we can’t imagine that any of them slept very well that night. 

There has been much speculation as to what may have happened to Ms Caddick, some people have speculated the worst for her.  People deal with stressful events in many different ways.  This blog is not dealing with any absolutes.  Our commentary is based on the language used by Mr Koletti.

As to the location of Ms Caddick at the time of the press conference, we may also want to look at the information provided during the live media event for potential clues of her whereabouts. 

Language analysis is a tool to help identify potential investigative options.  There are a few areas we can explore from the media event.  For the purpose of this blog, we note the following:

1. The prepared written statement

Mr Anthony Koletti (Mr Koletti), the husband of Ms Caddick, opened the live media event with a preprepared written statement, which he read: Melissa is a dedicated and incredible mother, a beautiful daughter, sister and loved wife.  We are asking the community to help bring Melissa home, that is all.  That’s all.

Observation:

• The language used by Mr Koletti, is not a plea or an appeal for help. He is “asking” the community to help.  It could be argued that asking is somewhat passive and lacks a sense of urgency which is something we anticipated from a broadcasted event regarding a missing person; 
• Mr Koletti asked the “community to help bring Melissa home.” We generally want to ‘find’ a person who has gone missing.  There is no plea for the community to help ‘find’ Melissa;
• The statement is absent a plea for any member of the community to give information to police if they happen to know where she is. Again, a plea along these lines is something we would have anticipated; and
• When you leave your home, you generally go/come ‘back’ to it. More often than not a distressed family member will plead for the missing person to ‘come back home’.  The word come ‘back’ is not used anywhere by Mr Koletti during media interview.

2. Interaction with a journalist

A journalist asked “Do you have any idea of what has happened to her, at all?   This is a simple question that invites a yes or no response.  The question does not require any clarification or qualification.

Observation:

• Despite the question being simple and inviting a simple response, Mr Koletti did not answer the question, rather he reiterates his opening statement and asks for the community to help bring her home.  

Point 3

• The interview becomes more interactive between journalists and Mr Koletti following delivery of his opening statement. This is a point, in any interview, where it becomes natural to default to a known set of facts, pre-occupied thoughts as well as responses influenced by subconscious facts;
• Even if the opening statement was not written by Mr Koletti, he did not sway from his opening statement of asking the community to ‘bring her home’; and  
• Home is where the heart is. It is not uncommon when on holidays, be it at a hotel or AirBnB, that in conversation with other people you can talk about heading ‘home’, although it is not your own home but a place where you are staying.  As an adult you may still often refer to your parents’ house as ‘home’ although you no longer live there.  

Conclusion

There was no direct plea by Mr Koletti to Ms Caddick until prompted by a journalist, for his wife to come back home or at least to be in touch to let him know that she is okay.

From our perspective, the way that Mr Koletti has phrased his opening statement and ensuing responses, we can not discount the possibility that, at the time that the media interview was conducted on 20 November 2020, Ms Caddick was at home or at a property known to Mr Koletti.  

Subconsciously, one doesn’t need to plead for someone to come ‘back’ home if their whereabouts is known.

About CurbyMcLintock 

CurbyMcLintock is a boutique forensic services firm that helps organisations respond to misconduct matters quickly and efficiently. They can undertake independent investigations where there are allegations of fraud or other misconduct.  Our philosophy is to leave an organisation in a better condition than when we arrived.

CurbyMcLintock can also assist with mitigation strategies including training and fraud risk reviews to build resilience against fraud and other risks occurring in the first place.  This includes the implementation and management of whistleblower hotlines.

Linkedin – The mystery of Melissa Caddick.  Does a statement by her husband on 20 November provide additional clues?